Me and my career: working in online marketing

Lee Newell has a degree in Computer Systems Engineering. He now works for business products supplier ESE Direct, promoting their business online.

Tell us about the job you’re doing now. What does it involve?

I work in online marketing for an e-commerce retailer of industrial products in Norwich, Norfolk. My time is spent managing pay per click advertising on search engines (ensuring the company adverts appear when you type in a search term – so called as the advertiser pays the search engine for every click through to their webpage they get), improving the usability of our website and general website maintenance.

What is the most exciting aspect of your work?

The constant evolution and a job that is never done as there is always more room for improvement and refinement.

Would your classmates from school be surprised at what you’re doing now?

No. I was always interested in the web and IT.

What school subjects were you good at and have any been surprisingly helpful later on?

Subjects that are less directly related such as Maths, English and Science have proved just as valuable as those such as IT which is more closely related. I use English skills for writing new content. Following methods for testing new features on the website is very similar to following methods for school Science experiments.

How did you decide what you wanted to do after school?

The web was something I was interested in as soon as I first discovered the internet. I then wanted to learn more about it, and discovered it would be a fun career.

And how did you get into your current line of work?

I first took a part-time job as a web developer whilst still a student. This was a great way into the industry and helped me to gain valuable experience.
If you went to university what was your university experience like?

Great, I enjoyed studying for my degree and this gave me a good background of theoretical knowledge to apply after graduating. Knowledge learnt through studying for a degree tends to be broader but less in depth and that acquired through work. Having both a degree and work experience is far better than having one or the other.

What are you proudest of achieving?

Doing a job I enjoy doing. In doing so helping the company I work for achieve growth through their online activity.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?

I am sure I will still be working within the web industry. It’s constantly evolving, which keeps it interesting and it presents so many opportunities.
What advice would you give someone still at school who wants to do what you’re doing now?

If there’s a career that you would like to do when you finish school then start working towards it now. I built my first website when I was still in school and this really helped me get started in the industry.